6. Companies care what people say about them. If you hear about a company damaging a mountain environment, write to its president and tell them what you think.
Q & A: SWITZERLAND
Where is Switzerland exactly?
Switzerland is a small country situated in the middle of Europe, with many mountains but no coastline. Switzerland has remained a mostly independent, neutral republic for hundreds of years.
Because French, German and Italian are all spoken in Switzerland, its official name is actually in Latin — Confoederatio Helvetica — to avoid offending anyone. That’s why Swiss internet addresses end ‘.ch’.
What does it mean to be a ‘neutral’ country?
It means that Switzerland won’t attack other countries, but also that it won’t intervene to help another country or people, even if, for example, that country is a small, innocent one being attacked unfairly. Switzerland was neutral in the Second World War, and many people think it was wrong of Swiss banks to allow Nazis to open bank accounts and deposit millions of dollars — some of it stolen from Jewish Holocaust victims.
Is Switzerland as beautiful as it sounds in Heidi?
Yes! The Swiss Alps are famous all over the world (not least for their association with Heidi!). The Swiss people are very proud of their country, and look after it carefully — they have many laws designed to protect the environment.
CHEESY SCIENCE!
Uncle Alp makes his own cheese from goats’ milk. But how exactly does liquid milk become solid cheese? Here are the basics of the science of cheese:
If you looked at fresh milk under a powerful microscope, you’d see large drops of fat and smaller pieces of protein, floating in a sea of sugary water.
Although the protein pieces are naturally attracted to each other, a substance coating the outside of each piece prevents them from joining up. The secret of making cheese is to destroy this substance, allowing the pieces of protein to join up.
Cheese‐makers kick‐start the necessary chemical reaction by adding an enzyme. Traditionally, this enzyme comes from a dried piece of calf’s stomach (called rennet), which is added to the milk. Today, there’s also vegetarian rennet.
Cheese‐makers also add a weak acid, usually produced by special bacteria added to the milk, as this helps the enzyme to work.
It takes several hours for the proteins to join up and set the milk into a gel.
This gel has lots of sugary water in it, but if the gel is squeezed, pressed or just allowed to drain, the water comes out, leaving a solid (the curds, containing most of the protein and fat), which looks a lot like cheese.
The type of cheese you get is determined by what happens next. There are many options, all producing different flavours and textures. Curds can be stretched, washed, heated, pressed and deliberately allowed to go mouldy. ‘Fresh’ cheeses (such as cottage cheese or mozzarella) are eaten soon after they’re made, while ‘aged’ cheeses (such as brie, cheddar or Monterey Jack) have to mature for days, weeks or even years.